British Expatriate Network

I have extended my H-1B and the documentation came through. I now need to have it processed and the visa put into my passport.

I've done this before, and I used a courier service in London to do the work for me, Fedexing my passport back to me in the US. I don't know whether this is still permissible, with the recent changes, but I am guessing not.

Can anyone tell me the story here? I am hoping not to have to spend a day or two in London sorting this out on my next trip home.

Cheers!

Adam

Why don't you give one of the agencies a call?

I think I used ABC visas or something when I got my H1-B. They were in Victoria right by the tube. I know I had to be in the UK to get it issued, but not sure about renewals.

You could also try calling the British Embassy. I spoke to the NYC office a while ago about a wedding related question and they were really helpful.

Stel.

Thanks Stel, I think you are correct, and I am going to have to give them a bell to find out the scores on the doors.

I think things have changed since Sept 11th. My husband's L1-A visa expired on 10th April and he'd received the official paperwork from the Vermont INS/BCIS (or whatever it's called these days) approving the extension.

He was given the choice of sending his passport off to a Service centre within the US to get the extension visa added to his passport. However he was informed that this could take 10-11 weeks or more. He works overseas a lot and with Summer coming couldn't comtemplate being deprived of his passport for so long - his mum is old and not in the best of health.

The alternative was to go to the US Embassy in Ottawa, have an interview there and await his passport. Otherwise, to return to the UK and have his interview at the US Embassy in London. Pete's company's Head Office is in London so he decided to combine it with a business trip. You're given a green tear-off coupon which is attached to the I-94 form which the airline keeps. The rest of the approval paperwork is taken to the interview and you have to take photos and a stamped envelope with Royal Mail Special Delivery postage and label to have your passport returned.

Pete was given an interview time of 1pm. So were about 100 other people for the same time and you have to get a number like you do at the deli counters! He waited 3 hours for a 5 minute interview (just a formality really). He didn't get his passport back for over a week (they said 3 days and won't entertain follow-up enquiries). He ended up missing his flight and was stuck in London for the Easter weekend, and going to the sorting office at 11pm to collect his letter so he could fly back to the US the next morning!

Pete had his knuckles rapped at the Embassy; he'd taken our son's passport with him too (minors don't need to be interviewed) and they weren't very pleased to hear that he was at school in NJ instead of being in the UK, although his passport was in the UK! They did take the I-94 though and issued his visa too.

I've got to face this in a few weeks so I can re-enter the USA. I bet I'll end up re-booking my flight and paying $100 for the priviledge.... roll ???

PS. You have to phone the Embassy in London to book the interview, it can be done up to one month ahead.

Unfortunately, you can't phone to arrange interviews from outside the UK. You will have to get your company (if they have an office in Blighty) to book it for you or get a friend or relative to do so.

It does seem to be the case with the additional security checks, that with all visas issued outside the USA, you have to go to the Embassy in person so they can check you against your photo and signature. sad

Dawn, what you just described is pretty much what I had been expecting - a major pain in the bum, an all-afternoon wait similar to my fingerprinting experience at the Boston service center, and a long wait for my passport back.

The bummer is that I wanted to see the family in Worcestershire then drive over to France for a while on my next trip back (probably not wise sans passport) and spend as little time as possible in London.

Maybe I should look into Canada.

Well if you choose to go to Canada I suppose you could get either Lee or Keith to book the appointment for you! lol

It might be interesting to visit Ottawa for a while (which is where Keith lives) but I don't know if there is plenty of things to do if you have to stay there for up to a week...trouble is you would have to stay put somewhere awaiting the return of your passport and no reliable information as to how quickly you can get it back. sad

I have this problem for my J1 visa as well.
I booked a flight back to the UK for just a week this summer as I didn't realise it would take so long to get the visa.
So I also have that feeling I am going to be $200 out of pocket to change my flight back sad

I thought about Canada too but decided that not knowing how long to go up there for would be too much hassle and I might use up all my vacation time waiting for the visa, though they are supposed to be faster than the London embassy.

The problem is that the Embassy staff just won't tell you when they've processed the forms and mailed them out evil . They even have an agency to field off any phone calls and no way will they put you through!

Pete was sending off e-mails to them but was just getting a bog-standard reply to fob him off. They won't commit to anything.

Once your envelope has got into the hands of the Post Office you can then track your envelope. Pete was fortunate to be staying near St. Paul's Cathedral and ended up going to the Mount Pleasant sorting office, then once he got there after speaking with a PO manager, they'd sent it off to Farringdon sorting office. roll He ended up getting a taxi at 11pm to collect his passport - luckily he was flying BA premium economy and wasn't charged for altering his flight. He missed an important conference in Ann Arbor but it was beyond his control.

I don't know what he would have done if he couldn't provide a London address to get his passport back, I guess it would have been delayed by at least another day - certainly his (re-booked) flight would have been missed again.

roll sad

I'm going to look at doing mine within the US, using the Department of State. In my case I can probably go without travelling for three months.

I went back for 2.5 weeks when I got my H1-B. It didn't take that long, but could have and I like the imposed vacation (my boss need never know).

Like I said before, I used a visa agency in Victoria. They are one of the companies authorised to deliver applications to the embassy. I just took the application and passport to them. I called 4 days later (they were supposed to have called me but had the number written down all wrong) and they said it was ready. It was that easy.

I hope you can make it work as nicely for you.

Stel.

How recently did this happen then Stel?

Yes Stel, was this before the changes that have occurred post-9/11?

This is just what we did, too Stel. We used Rapid visa services and as I understand it, the visa service companies get priority.

Ours took 5 days I seem to remember but that was because we were using the post and not taking it to them ourselves.

If things have changed that drastically after 9/11 these visa services would be able to give you the info you need. :smile: If I remember correctly they are listed on the American embassy site in the UK.

Well I've looked all over the US Embassy in London website and there is no mention of these visa services/courier companies.

I don't know about H visas but with L visas you definitely have to have an interview at the Embassy if you are outside the US - even for extensions. The procedure is here for all H, L and Q visa applicants

http//www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web/visa/niv/happ.htm